Lil' Miss Smarty Pants was created to share activities (mostly crafts!!) you can do with your own kids or in a teaching setting...almost all of the activities use simple everyday items that are found in most homes with kiddos. We have spent a lot of time looking for fun activities that also have teaching/learning value, and several years trying them out with our preK class. Here are our favorites!!

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Wednesday, August 29, 2012

We like to include at least one coloring page per week. Coloring is such a great way to get the kiddos used to holding pencils, markers, and crayons properly. Those little muscles in their fingers and hands need to lots of help to get developed so that they are eventually able to have beautiful handwriting! :)

This week, our coloring page is an airplane...because "a" is for airplane!

A fun activity to go along with this coloring page is teaching them how to make paper airplanes, complete with a few minutes to throw them around the room!

Monday, August 27, 2012

We always start out the year teaching the vowels...beginning with "A!" This week we are staring off with "A" is for Apple. Gluing small objects on art projects is an important way for the kiddos to use those fingers and improve their fine-motor skills. And Janette and I are always amazed at how different the kiddos projects turn out, even when dealing with the same items. They are each so individual!

You will need:

basic outline print of an apple (you can google images of apples, or try this one: http://www.wpclipart.com/food/fruit/apple/apple_outline.png.html

red, brown and green construction paper cut or torn into small peices (you can let the kids tear their paper, if they have developed enough patience to tear and also make it through the gluing!)

glue

While they glue, we like to talk about the different colors that apples come in, not just red. It's fun to hear the kids come up with different things you can make with your apples...applesauce, apple pie, and caramel apples. We also like to talk about the seeds inside the apple...and what would happen if you planted the seed?

Saturday, August 4, 2012

This is a fun "game" we use to help our kiddos hone their fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination. Prep is easy and they love this game. You can "play" different ways, like ask them to pick up all their blue fuzzies, then their pink ones and so on. You can ask them to pick up 5 fuzzies then 4 more. It can be used as an activity to count, add, subtract, or tell their colors. Or they can just simply see how fast they can pick up all their fuzzies!

You will need:

training chopsticks

fuzzies

a cup or other container to put them in

You can get regular cheap chopsticks at WalMart and put a rubber band around the top of them to make them into training chopsticks, or you can buy the connectors, like we have, or you can buy actual training chopsticks.

Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Kids love masks and pretending. This is a fun activity that can be used to teach a lot of different concepts.

We used it in this class to teach "F is for face." It would also be a great way to talk about differences and similarities by customizing the faces to match each child...red hair, blue eyes...etc. Or, you could do it during the first week of class and have each child show their face and then tell the class one or two of their favorite things. It would also be a fun lesson on our eyes, nose and mouth and their functions (sight, smell, taste) as senses.

You will need:

a paper plate for each child

yarn for hair

construction paper cut into the shapes of eyes, nose, mouth

(optional) googly eyes

While the kids are gluing their faces together, talk about where the parts go and why. Pre K kiddos love to be silly, we usually end up with a funny conversation about what we would look like if we had two noses or one eye, or if our mouths were on our forehead!